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5/26/11

It seems pretty clear now that Andrea Bargnani is well on his way out of Toronto. If he isn't the chances of him restoring himself with this fanbase pretty much is done. Another guy making comments overseas and in this modern world they quickly come back to bite him in the butt in North America. You only need to look at last summer when Hedo Turkoglu did a similar thing and he ended up traded to Suns and gone. Bargnani in an interview in Italy expressed that he was not exactly happy with the comments his G.M Bryan Colangelo made about him in his post season press conference. He said that he was fine with being traded and would welcome a trade to a warmer NBA destination where he could play his natural position. The Raptors/Bargnani went in damage control mode and released a statement yesterday addressing these comments from Bargnani from Andrea himself.Andrea Bargnani Statement:

"I wish to personally clarify and correct an inaccurate portrayal of my words that recently appeared in the media. Much of what I said was taken out of context with respect to an entire conversation. I want to make clear my love for Toronto and I consider the city my second home. I never said that I wanted to leave Toronto and I am sorry if fans interpreted the inaccuracy in that way. I am proud to represent Toronto and the Raptors Organization. I appreciate what Bryan Colangelo and the organization has done for me during the past 5 years of my career. I always work to improve myself as a player to reward the organization and our fans with the best team possible. "

First off, has anyone every heard Andrea Bargnani talk like this? This has PR written all over it and quite honestly it stinks about as bad as his defence and rebounding. Unlike when Chris Bosh left last summer I am pretty confident in suggesting most Raptors fans would welcome the idea of Bargnani no longer being a Raptor. This debate on playing his natural position has been on that has remained from the very start of his career. No matter what anyone says it seems pretty clear that Bargnani mentally feels he is playing out of position and it has an impact on him. This is a failure on his part to adapt and a failure on the organization to get him to fully buy into his role on this team. The time has come for he and the Raptors to part ways and move on. I have been convinced of this for a long time. Bargnani with the tag of being the team's first overall pick will never live up to that. If you look back on the Raptors history I think many would be hard pressed to put him in the top 5 players all time. He has not lived up to the billing that comes with being the first overall pick and has been a failure overall in his time with the Raptors. His strengths as a scorer are far out weighed by his overall lack of effort and lack of defensive ability and ability to rebound. The problem for the Raptors becomes once again they are going to be dealing a player from a position of weakness and not strength. Bryan Colangelo's job of moving him has become harder based on this latest episode. But as he proved with Hedo Turkoglu that is not going to stop him from moving him. Raptors fans for the most part would say the sooner the better. But in this current climate with a lockout looming that might be easier said than done.

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